Moistener.



J. OBRIEN.

MOISTENER. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 17, 1911.

1 ,004,679. Patented Oct. 3, 1911.

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ES T1? 1 FIE.

MOISTENER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN OBRIEN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 348 Porter avenue, in the city of Buffalo, State of New York, United States of America, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Moisteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in moist-eners, such as are used for moistening the gummed edges of envelops and the like, and the objects of my invention are to en able the envelops or other articles to be moistened with great rapidity, to provide means for supporting the moistening elements where it may drain when saturated to too great an extent, and finally to generally simplify the construction and arrangement of the parts of the machine thereby reducing the cost of constructing, and increasing the efiiciency in operation.

Other objects and advantages will be in.

part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

With these and other ends in view, this invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of parts, and arrangement of elements hereinafter more explicitly set forth as an exemplification of the underlying principles involved in the invention.

In order that this invention may be more fully understood and be comprehensible to others skilled in the art, drawings illustrating a convenient means of carrying out the same are pointed out as part of this specifica tion, and while the controlling principles of the invention may be otherwise applied by modifications falling within the scope of the claims, the hereinafter disclosed embodiment is that which will ordinarily be preferable to employ in practice and is regarded as representing substantial improvements over the many obvious or implied variations of the same. In such drawings it is to be noted that like numerals and letters refer to corresponding parts throughout all the figures in the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is a cross section thereof with different positions of the moistening elements indicated in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail through the connection between the moistening elements and the supporting members for the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. March 17, 1911.

Patented Oct. 3, 1911.

Serial No. 615,058.

same. Fig. 4 is a detail of one of the supporting links for the moistening elements.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a suitable receptacle for the moistening liquid which may be water. This receptacle is cast or otherwise formed from suitable material such as glass and so constructed as to be of maximum lightness; according to the present invention the receptacle is formed with a basin 10 substantially rectangular in cross section and supported by an outwardly flaring base 11; the base being formed with a recess 12 on the under side to reduce the weight thereof.

B represents the moistening element in the form of a roller which is covered with suitable absorbent material such as eiderdown or felt. Following the present invention the roller is supplied with freedom to swing from the side of the receptacle and to move outwardly and inwardly. This is accomplished through the medium of slotted links C and D each of which has a central slot 13 which fits to a pintle 14 mounted on the end of a receptacle; said pint-1e having an enlarged head which retains the link in position, said link being adapted to slip through an enlargement 15 of the slot 13 which is formed at the outer end thereof.

Said enlargement is adapted to fit around an annular shoulder 16 on a nut 17 on the end of the spindle 18 which supports the roller B. The nut 17 has a screw threaded engagement with the spindle and could also be formed with a milled head as shown. It will be seen that when the nuts 17 on opposite ends are tightened the rotation of the roller B will be prevented.

The shoulder 16 has its outer portion screw threaded and has a sleeve 19 mounted there-.

on which sleeve is adapted to retain the link in position. The ends of the receptacle are formed with notches 20 adapted to receive shown in Fig. 1, with the flaps opened out and the moistening element resting on the flaps, said moistening element having previously been saturated with moisture by turning it in the liquid. The uppermost envelop is then drawn away, and its frictional contact with the roller will cause the latter to turn and thus moisten the gummed edge from the diiferent parts'of the periphery of the roller. If a greater quantity of moisture is desired, or when the moisture is getting used up, the nuts 17 may be tightened preventing rotation of the roller when all the moisture will collect on the under side and be available for moistening the gummcd edge. lVhen it is desired to drain some of the moisture from the roller it may be placed on the tray E as shown in Fig. 2.

It will be seen that the slotted links enable the roller to be moved freely about the piv ots of the links and also to be moved outwardly and inwardly. The device will be found to possess a number of advantages over the ordinary moistener in which the roller is permanently mounted above the re ceptable. lVhere it is so mounted it is nec essary to pick up each envelop separately, and apply it to the roller and this is not anything like the rapid and labor saving provided for by present inventions, in which the roller rests by gravity on the pile of flaps of the envelops to be gummed. It will also be noted that the flared shape of the base forms a convenient abutment against which the flaps may be pressed by the roller during moistening.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of my invention within the scope of the claims constructed without departing from the spirit or scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specifications and drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

lVhat- I claim as my invention is:

1. 1k moistener comprising a receptacle, a moistening roller and spindle for the same, nuts on the ends of the spindle, slotted links embracing said nuts and means connecting the links with the receptacle with freedom to move outwardly and inwardly.

2. A moistener comprising a receptacle having pintles thereon, a moistening roller, a spindle for the roller, nuts on the opposite ends of the spindle, slotted links mounted on the pintles and having enlarged portions in their slots adapted to embrace the nuts on the spindle.

3. An envelop moistener comprising a receptacle, a moistening roller and a spindle extending therethrough, nuts on the eXtremities of the spindle and having annular shoulders formed thereon, links pivoted to the receptacle and having slots embracing the.

shoulders or the nuts, and sleeves having screw-threaded engagement with the shoulders and adapted to retain the links in position.

4. A moistener comprising a receptacle, and tray member at one side of the top of the receptacle having a curved surface adapted to drain into the receptacle, a moistening element and means for mounting the moistening element on the receptacle with freedom to be swung about the same and to be moved outwardly and inwardly.

5. An envelop moistener comprising a receptacle a tray member at one side of the name having drainage channels leading to the receptacle, a moistening element and links supporting the moistening element from the receptacle.

6. A moistener comprising a receptacle for the moistening fluid having an outwardly flared base, a moistening element and means supporting the moistening element from the receptacle and adapted to-allow the same to swing by gravity toward the base.

7. A moistener comprising a receptacle, a moistening roller and means connecting the roller to the receptacle and permitting the former to rest by gravity on the articles to be moistened.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN OBRIEN. /Vitnesses JOHN FOLEY, J. M. BLAIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner -of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

